Category:

Hwy 1 Scenes On My Drive Home

10/15/2016

Tuesday this week
Was a most glorious, perfect weather day in Iowa.

Most every day requires a trip into Iowa City on Hwy 1. Some days I'm getting titles, sometimes a part, maybe making a deposit,
or more than likely, buying butter.

Whyyyy am I always running out of butter, milk and brown sugar???
And ketchup. Do you tip ketchup bottles upside down, like me, to get those last 3 Tbsps out because you're too cheap just to buy another bottle?

Anyway, I took pictures of all the stuff I love to look at every single ding dong day, driving back from Iowa City.

Each day I admire this intriguing,
Welsh Church sign,
at the Sharon Center Rd turnoff.

After 15 years of driving by this sign,
I decided to investigate.

The church is barely a mile down the road.
I passed this cool entry to someone's long driveway on the way there.

Another driveway had these cool textural pieces.
L-o-v-e.

I came upon the Welsh Church quickly.

Breathtaking.

Look
at the
cool
old fence!

The sky was a gorgeous blue this week.

And how about that metal railing
and cement wall out front?

East side of the church.

The church bell looks like it's been there a long time and was quite functional.

Those windows!

The back parking lot.

So beautiful and peaceful.

The rectory.
In perfect four square style.

As I was leaving, there is a house across the road,
but it's hidden.

You can see an old windmill peeking above the trees.

And a gorgeous silo nestled among the setting.

Driving back to Hwy 1,
I've always loved this house's setting.

I like how this utility area becomes a pretty fall backdrop.

So we continue to move along...

There is a prairie on Hwy 1 that is just stunning...

This time I stopped and took pictures.

The textures and colors and long view scenery
are amazing.

Hello, pretty yellow native flowers!

Okay, now we come to "the flats" of Hwy 1.

Am always intrigued by the slow-moving progress
of this house.

And then we come to this piece of scenery that I am riveted to every day.

This field and this fence.

This barn!

The next place down the road is hidden
(I love the house that you can't see!) but there's a New Holland combine sitting out in the field today.

And this is one of the most picturesque places
in all of Johnson County! Right here on Hwy 1!
The views from this place are spectacular, just spectacular.

It's part of the Rug Cottage and Barntiques Antique Mall. One thousand percent gorgeous!

Across the road from Rug Cottage, these folks always have fun seasonal decorations
adorning their gazebo.

They have several cute settings, in fact.

Now how ca-ute is this!!! Those bearsies!

A mile down the road, I always see this sign in the fall...

I've gotten pumpkins at Kyle's Pumpkins before but today I am taken by this scene up on a hillside to the east.

As I move south on Hwy 1,
I admire this cottage style, mint green house.

And this GORGEOUS red door...also look at that cute fall scene on the front porch!

This house has the absolute cutest
Christmas lights up every year.
These are customer friends of ours, and they know I covet their house so bad!

My last star gazing spot on Hwy 1 before Frytown is Sister's Garden.

Oh my gosh, I love this place so much!

Cute, cute, cute! Some day when I have time, I will share all the pics I have taken of Sister's Seasonal Open Houses!

Okay, so after I got back to the shop,
I shared with Tim that the day was such a perfect,
beautiful Iowa fall day,
and that I had the best time taking pics of all the wonderful things
on my drive home.

And then my final fall picture became this one...

Tim at the shop.

All we're missing is just a pumpkin or mum...or pumpkin muffins!!

Well, that's all I have for today, friends!!
Thanks for checking in!
Will be posting again soon!
Have a beautiful weekend, weather should be pretty close to perfect!!
Talk to y'all soon!!

A Delicious Sweet and Sour Pork, A Scary Motel, and Funky Denver Photos

9/28/2015

Sweet and Sour Pork
and the pork is crispy, people....CRISPY!

But only if you layer the dish correctly.

Now it's been a month since I posted. I've been cooking, though. Pretty decent stuff even (and a couple disasters of course) that I will be sharing.

We've also been busy road-tripping!!
Made a trip out to Denver over Labor Day weekend,
which was a blast!!
We stayed at a very nice hotel.

What?

It was super nice and
not scary
at all.

Yeesh, you guys are soooo judgey.

Heeeee.
Actually, we stayed at a Marriot in the
Denver Cherry Creek district and it was nice.
And safe.
:)

The other motel picture was taken in Nebraska or somewhere off I-80 in Colorado...can't remember.
I did think it was cool, though.
Scary, yet......
okay, it was just scary.

Know what wasn't scary and was completely adorable and who loved me as much as I loved her?

This old girl, who greeted me inside her human parent's antique shop in Denver.

I sat on the floor and this girl leaned into me and let me pet her endlessly.

She is 14 years old and was recuperating from several surgeries of which she wasn't expected to survive.
Oh she was a sweetheart and her human parents love her beyond words.

Okay, so besides visiting doggies at Denver antique shops and taking pictures of seedy motels along the way,

we've also been busy getting these vehicles
ready for listing...

2003 Chevy Tahoe LT 4WD 145k $8985

1998 Chevy K1500 Silverado 4x4 142k $6985 Sold

And these...

2004 Buick Rendezvous CXL AWD 122k $6385

2005 Pontiac Grand Prix
92k $6885 Sold

This is the Impala we drove out to Denver and back.
Very nice!
2005 Chevy Impala 132k $5685

Okay,

let's get back to this super yummy
Sweet and Sour Pork!

This recipe is from the food website
Rasa Malaysia.

Check her website out, all her recipes are authentic and uses ingredients that can be purchased relatively easy.

Here's the fixins for this delicious and crispy (if you do it right) Sweet and Sour Pork.

I just want to point out the following three items.

1. Sake.
Also know as rice wine.
Rice wine is NOT rice wine vinegar, it's an actual wine. This little bottle was $2.50 at the store. If you can't find sake (rice wine), use sherry.

2. Oyster Sauce.
It's in the Asian aisle at your grocery store.

3. Plum sauce.
Again, this is in the Asian aisle at your grocery. Hy-Vee carries both oyster and plum sauce.

RECIPE: SWEET AND SOUR PORK
Straight outta www.rasamalaysia.com
Rasa Malaysia has excellent, authentic recipes, check it out!
INGREDIENTS:1/2 lb. pork tenderloin (cut into bite size pieces)
1/2 green bell pepper (about 2 oz. and cut into pieces)
1/2 red bell pepper (about 2 oz. and cut into pieces)
2 stalks scallions (only the white part, cut into 2 inch length)
1 piece fresh/canned pineapple ring (cut into small pieces)
1 clove garlic (finely chopped)
Oil for frying

MARINATE:
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon corn starch
1/2 teaspoon rice wine

FRYING BATTER:
1/2 cup water
2 oz. all-purpose flour
1 oz. corn starch
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 egg
1 teaspoon cooking oil
1 small pinch of salt

SWEET AND SOUR SAUCE:
1 1/2 tablespoons tomato ketchup
1 teaspoon plum sauce
1/8 teaspoon Chinese rice vinegar (transparent in color)
1/2 teaspoon Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce
1 teaspoon oyster sauce
1 teaspoon corn starch
1 teaspoon sugar
2 tablespoons water

METHOD:Cut the pork tenderloin into pieces and marinate with the ingredients for 15-20 minutes.

Mix the sweet and sour sauce ingredients well and set aside.

Strain the dry ingredients of the frying batter and then add in the egg, water, and cooking oil to form a thick batter.

When the pork is well-marinated, transfer the pork pieces into the batter and make sure they are well coated. In a deep skillet, add in the cooking oil enough for deep-frying. Once the oil is hot, deep fry the pork pieces until they turn golden brown. Dish out and drain on paper towels.

Heat up a wok and add in some cooking oil. Add in the chopped garlic and stir fry until light brown, then follow by the bell peppers and pineapple pieces. Stir fry until you smell the peppery aroma from the peppers and then add in the sweet and sour sauce. As soon as the sauce thickenens, transfer the pork into the wok and stir well with the sauce. Add in the chopped scallions, do a few quick stirs, dish out and serve hot with steamed white rice.

Click HERE to go to the Rasa Malaysia website to print off the recipe.

I used canola oil this time.

My usual go-to is avocado oil. Avocado oil is a high heat oil just like canola, only healthier, EXPENSIVE, but healthier I guess.

You can't really use olive oil for this recipe.
The coating on the pork will burn as olive oil is not a high heat oil.

The pork tenderloin I bought was $10.99/lb.

I don't ever really buy pork tenderloin so I don't know if that was high or what for that cut of meat.

Anyhoo, make up that quick marinade of soy sauce, corn starch and rice wine (sake) and throw the chunked pork in.

Now we'll get started on the sweet and sour sauce.
Ketchup is the base.
Can you believe it??

Also double the amount of the
sweet and sour sauce.

You will thank me later.

Easy peasy here for the sweet and sour sauce. Just mix up the ketchup, plum sauce, rice wine vinegar (different than the rice wine sake), Worcestershire sauce, oyster sauce, corn starch, sugar and water. Set it aside for a bit.

Next we'll mix up the frying batter ingredients for the pork.

This is water, flour, corn starch, baking soda, egg, oil and salt.

Chop the peppers, garlic, scallions
and pineapple.

Now I went ahead and made up some long grain brown rice in chicken broth.

Things are going to go quick now, so
WAKE UP!!!!!!!!!!!

Start cooking
the marinated, battered-up pork
in the frying oil.

BTW, I didn't put much oil in the pan, maybe just 1/2 cup.

Flip the pork
pieces over

and

cook until golden brown
both sides.

Make certain the pork is at least 160 degrees....

...and let them drain on paper towels.

See how they look crunchy here???

Well,

throw them into a dish for safekeeping...

Get your
sweet and sour sauce
heating up...

Now lets get started with the veggies and pineapple,
but first brown up the garlic...

...Now throw the veggies and pineapple
in.

Stir fry until just about ready....

Here's the straight scoop though....

DO NOT add the crispy pork into the veggies
and DO NOT add the sweet and sour sauce into the veggies either.

Keep everything separate like this IF you like crispy pork.

NOW plate up your dish with rice, pork,
then veggies and pineapple...

See how crisp everything looks...

NOW
you can drizzle that sweet and sour sauce on.

Mmmm...

Look at the crispy pork and vegetables,
the sweet and sour drizzled sauce....yum!

Okay!
This is a perfect Sweet and Sour Pork!!

And because we did not saute everything together in a pan,

everything turned out crispy!

Here's the link to this Sweet and Sour Pork from RasaMalaysia.com.
Just click over there to print off the recipe!

Okay, now lets get back to Denver for a minute...I just want to show you a few things.

This
1st floor,
old-school,
vintage
antique shop directed one up some stairs in the very back of the building.

Always up to an antique challenge,

Tim and I

proceeded

up

the

stairs...

I totally knew from the
get-go,

I was going to LOVE this place!!

Aisle
after antique aisle...

Okay, this room was a little different. Uh huh.

Tim did buy a few things there, including this carrying case with mainly Lesney Matchbox cars.

Down the street was this
bike shop.

There's a ton of bike shops in Denver.

Oddly enough, in the back of that bike shop was a display of vintage cameras for sale.

Of course
I had to hit every record store we came by.

And we
ate a ton of super excellent fresh food...

and had great conversation

Daughter is a PhD student and activist poet. Daughter's super nice boyfriend works in the Denver craft beer industry.

with
two
of our favorite people.

One of the restaurants we visited is a very popular
farm to table restaurant called
Old Major.
Old Major's owner/head chef was raised on a family farm in Iowa.

Their building clearly pays homage to Iowa farming with the logo or at least to the fantastic pork dishes they make there.

Here's a link to their restaurant. www.oldmajordenver.com

The restaurant sits right in the middle of a quirky, interesting residential district that has been renewed.

The rehabbed houses are so cute with lots of character and color.

As we were leaving the restaurant, I heard some loud music playing down the street.
We walked to where the noise was coming from and lo and behold, right smack in the middle of the district was this service station. Of course I had to take a picture!

Okay gals and guys,
tis all I gots for today!
Gotta get back to work,
there's a super duper nice 2006 Grand Prix waiting for me to button up the detailing and take pictures of it.

Thanks for checking in!!! I've been making a lot of dishes from more recipes so I'm looking forward to sharing them with y'all!
Have a great Monday and we'll talk at ya soon!!

I'm Not A Sewer or Quilter But I Am Mesmerized By Quilt Shops and This is a Super Cool and Cute One in Cedarburg, Wisconsin.

8/19/2015

Tucked away off Greenbay Rd,
outside the old German destination town of Cedarburg, Wisconsin,
is an adorable quilt shop.

Ye Olde Schoolhouse.
Blink and you'll miss it!

Once you pull up in the driveway, you can clearly see it is a former old time schoolhouse.
The schoolhouse was in operation from 1887 - 1958!

This was a little vignette outside the front entry door. 
I just KNEW I was going to love this place!!

As you walk in,
the colors and warmth and textures welcomes everyone.

Every nook and cranny of the old schoolhouse is used for the passion of quilting.

Helloo pretty pastel-y bolts of fabric!

Um, jus' a minute here....

Disclaimer: My name is Angie. I am the daughter of a phenomenal seamstress and quilter. I have no idea how to darn a sock (I don't even know what that means) much less quilt a quilt or...oh, I'll just be real....I don't understand bobbins and how to thread a sewing machine. It's too complicated and frankly, scary stuff. If I use the wrong language when describing these pictures, please forgive me and blame my mom who should have known better than to raise five kids who don't know squat about sewing other than fabric is pretty and feels good.

Second Disclaimer: I may be up for adoption if my Ma reads this. I'm pretty certain the adoption fee will be waived, in fact, Ima thinkin' Ma will PAY you.

Anyhoo, there's baskets and baskets of sewing items.

What is this???

I have no idea. That's why I called it sewing items.

Is it a notion?

I like it though, it's pretty and texture-y.

I wanted to jump into it like those bouncy ball pits and roll around.

Ohhhh look at the vintage baskets holding other things...

Kits!

Bet they're called kits!

And look at this cute small old red painted cupboard!

Angie want-y!!

There was a room full of just
books and booklets.

A cute room
with spools or skeins of thread.

(Remember, I do not know sewing terminology) :)

The old schoolhouse Girls Bathroom
was still in place....

As were the
the stalls.

And look at that!

A cute quilt thrown over the wall!

Tim and I eventually made our way
down
the
stairs
to
the basement...

And oh my goodness gracious, it was a mother lode of all things quilting!!!

Rows and rows and rows of beautiful fabric...

Many of the fabric bolts
were nestled on custom made
bolt ends,
built onto benches that were left in the schoolhouse building.

These book cases are original to the schoolhouse.
Soooo cool!!

Yards of fabric everywhere!!

Look up above the bookcases and there are adorable vintage displays like this one...

And this vintage stereo was playing the music loud and clear for shoppers...

I'm a sucker for anything bright and shiny and I loved
this embroidery thread display.

Care
for any buttons?

How about something sew-y
from this cute popcorn bowl?

Okay, is this the Flying Geese pattern?

I think it's the Flying Geese pattern but I am tripped up by the
vine and flowers...

Those triangles are Flying Geese,
I'd almost bet a cheesecake on it.

A big part of the success of this super awesome quilt shop is the classes and quilt gatherings they host every week in the
lower level classroom.

We met the owner and one of the ladies who works there and those are happy people, lovin' what they're doing, let me tell ya!!!! This is a happy place!

As evidenced by the adorable painted chairs around the large work table...

And
just randomly laying around was this cute needlepoint heart.

And talk about hearts....be still my heart!!!!
LOOK AT THIS DOOR WITH THE ORIGINAL GLASS, WOULD YOU!!!

*
L
*
O
*
V
*
E
*

Okay. I admit I took a little peeky weeky down another set of stairs that led to someone's office.
But I didn't go DOWN them! Swear!
Cause that would have been rude. And trespassing. Even though I WANTED to.

That looks like such a cool office though, doesn't it??!!

Okay, last thing Ima show you is not related to sewing.

It was in the Quilt Shop kitchen.
...
...
...
...
...

A VINTAGE HARVEST GOLD SIX BURNER
DOUBLE OVEN RANGE!!!!!

AND IT STILL WORKED PERFECTLY!!!!!

Oh, who was beside herself??

Who wanted to take that range home???

Who?
Who?
I LOVED THAT STOVE!

Ultimately it occurred to me, if I did have that range in my own kitchen,
every one who enters my house would be so jealous, they wouldn't ever talk to me again, thinking I was a total showboat.

So I figured it was just less drama not to consider asking the ladies if I could buy it.

Okay, I'll go ahead and close for now but I would like to share a quilt from back in February that my Ma was working on.
I begged her to give me this quilt. I NEEDED this quilt. Look at those colors and textures, it's like a watercolor painting. Mom said she would give it to me.

I would love to share a picture of this awesome perfect quilt displayed on my guest bed, but I can't.

Cause I don't have it.

Yet.

MA!!!!!!!!

QUILT!!!!!!!!

Okay, so another riveting post wraps up.
Now I want y'all to promise me you won't go to that cute quilt shop up in Cedarburg, Wisconsin and buy that AWESOME HARVEST GOLD RANGE out from under me.
Promise now.
I KNOW you want it.

:)
Talk at ya soon!!!

Why Won't My Kitchen Clean Itself? A Saloon Show At Old Threshers, Vintage Cars and Other Super Exciting Pictures That Involve Bathrooms. Sigh.

9/17/2014

Hey, hey!
Could someone come over and do my dishes for me?

I know you think I'm kidding but I'm serious.
This next picture was taken just three days AFTER I had cleaned up the crap up from the top picture...yeesh...

What?

I have an inability to do dishes
and
put crap away.

Always.
Like really really always.

It just all seems so....
so unnecessary to do all that cleanup just to get it all dirty again.

And frankly, quite boring, if you will.

If I were to actually do
things like

"wash the dishes"
and
"clean the kitchen"
(yaaaaawwwwnnnnn) ,
then how will I ever find time to:

Go to the Old Threshers Reunion...

where there were plenty of cool, old tractors....

...and where an almost 3-year-old Little Boy Blue was so happy to sit on a nice person's tractor...with the assistance of his daddy of course.

Now how awesome is this cute little
oldie John Deere??!!

We rode the trolley....

And of course we had to see the
Saloon Girls Show!!!
Little Boy Blue's momma, "Kindness", (our 30 year old daughter), has such fond childhood memories of seeing the Saloon Girls Show every year when she visited the
Old Thresher's Reunion with her Grandpa Madsen.
Well...of course Kindness insisted we NOT MISS the show!!

...and the looks on Little Boy Blue and his dad's face during the show....priceless!!

It really was an awesome show!
There was a dancing cowboy on a piano who sang to
Ghost Riders In The Sky. Oh it was fun!!

See the cowboy over there, on top the piano?

During Ghost Riders, he stood on the piano and rode an old vintage kid's stick horse. So funny!!

You know that song...Ghost Riders In The Sky...
sung by a ton of different people, from Burl Ives to Johnny Cash.
Yippe Yi Yayyyyyyyyyy!!!!!
The song was written by Stan Jones in 1949.
It is considered to be one of the top western songs of all time.
Here's Marty Robbin's version....

Okay, so on the way out of the
Old Threshers Reunion,
we passed the vintage car barn....

An old Texaco truck!

Hey! This next picture is not of a vintage vehicle...It is however, of a bottle of new wine I tried out and an avocado dip after returning home.

Okay, now we move to some pictures from our quick trip to
Cedarburg, Wisconsin
that same week....
So this is an Olds Cutlass 442, early 70s
that was parked on a street in downtown Cedarburg.
Tim drooled over this car....

Okay, now this is a former gas station,
converted into a cool lady's shoppe within the last year or two
in downtown Cedarburg.
I noticed there's always men in this shop
browsing though,

you can tell they're checking out how the old service station has changed up. The owners kept the original floor, ceiling, a lot of the industrial/mechanical elements.

Bands were playing on every block
that weekend......

This is a little peek-a-boo down onto the wine floor of the Old Mill we visited as well....

Tim and I browsed and ate,
and browsed and ate during our quick time there.

While browsing, we noticed a door was open from the sidewalk to a building. We peered up there, duh.

These steps were just too intriguing not to take all the way to the top...

So we trailed up the flight of stairs.....
The whole floor up there was massive windows, huge warehouse rooms, and small artist's studios.
We purchased this watercolor/acrylic.
The artist had JUST popped in and we caught her at the right time in her studio.

And this shapely piece of Christmas art just screamed at me through another artist's studio window. It yelled, "BUY ME!!!! YOU WILL REGRET NOT BUYING MEEEEE!!! YOU KNOW YOU WANT MEEEE!!! JUST BUY MEEEEE ALREADY!!!!"

So I did.

And it is displayed on the shelf housing my
very-contemporary,
not-at-all-old-skool
CD/cassette collection.

Shut up!
People still listen to CDs and cassettes!

Right?

Right???? *scratching head*

Anyhoo, here's my cool vintage 7-up clock......
keeps perfect time, too.

Oh! See the tiny sliver of the bathroom to the right, over there....

Well, this bathroom has a vintage license plate dealer frame just sitting on the vanity there....it says Iowa City.

Tim's grandparent's license plate from their last car in Albuquerque is on the bathroom wall too...
as is another collected vintage dealer plate frame,
Bliss Motors Inc, Detroit.

In case you were thinking that license plate frames are tacky things to display on a bathroom wall,
I will have you know,
I hung an elegant towel holder up next to them.

What?

Here's a closer look....

Doesn't this towel holder just ratchet up the elegantness of this room a notch or two? BTW, elegantness is a word, look it up. In the Pretend Word Dictionary.

I paid all of $5 for this "towel holder" in the farm hardware section at Menards!!

I KNOW!!
Cool, huh!!!!! Heeeeeeeeee.....

Let me share what else you're going to be jealous of....

A light!
In my new cheap-o-rama dryer that just
got delivered today!!!!

A LIGHT!!!!
That works!!
In! A! Dryer!
YAY!!!
This will surely help me in locating the laundered dollar bills and quarters
much, much easier!
Is it obvious that I've never had a light in a dryer?

Okay, back to the streets of Cedarburg was this Ranchero.
I wanted to take a picture of the interior but some people were looking at me suspiciously while I was peering in the windows, so I didn't.

That Ranchero was parked outside this cutie old building on main street.
Those colors!

Gosh, I was going to do a post about Southwest Stuffed Peppers
but because I am boring you out of your wits, I will just show you a picture of the meal Tim's sister served us the night before we left back to Iowa....

Beyond deliciousness!!! And those fresh green beans, steamed and topped with a dollop of butter and crispy turkey bacon, so summertime awesome!!
I want that exact same meal every single week, that's how awesome it was!
Definitely one of the top five meals I've ever had!

Okay, in closing, just a quick picture of the kitchen counters I JUST NOW took
at noontime today Wednesday.
Although the counters do NOT have five days of dishes on them
(YAY!!! MIRACLES DO HAPPEN!!!!), they do have the following which apparently I am adverse to dealing with:

1. Last night's crapola pizza boxes
2. $5.99 empty wine bottle
3. Coffee can that apparently is permanently parked in that spot.
4. Dirty napkins
5. Bag of cat treats
6. Old lemon
7. Flyswatter
8. Dirty plates and glasses
9. Empty pitcher

Do not think for a minute that Tim and I do not know how to whoop it up in this casa!!! No sireeee!!!!!!
It is one party after another all up in here, every night!!!
We just try to hide it real good, don't want other people to feel bad, ya know.

:) :) :) :) :) :)

Okay, gotta go. Got a dirty cat pan I gotta clean out.
I mean, gotta tidy up the house for the next big blow-out tonight!

:)
Hey, have a good Wednesday y'all and talk at ya soon!!!

Angie Went Jogging But Became Shockingly Distracted By Cute Old Houses, An Alley, and a Fairy Garden...Duh, Who Wouldn't!

7/19/2014

Tim and I spent a super fun weekend up in Cedarburg, Wisconsin.

At a festival full of live music, artists, vendors, food,
and a ton of cute little shops.

Early Saturday morning,
I put on my running shoes
and left Tim's sister's house for a quick, little jog/walk.

Tim's sister Kim and her husband Steve always host us
when we visit for festivals.

This is Kim and Steve's house.
Their house is in THE quaintest historic neighborhood
in Cedarburg.

I started on my walk/jog
but I didn't get
too far...
just to the next house over....

...that's when I realized,

oh my gosh,

there's a ton of cute houses with cute gardens and cute fences in this neighborhood, oh my!

So I jaunted back to Kim's house real quick, grabbed my camera,
and started snapping pictures of houses in the early morning light on my walk.
All these old houses are literally within a
three block radius of Tim's sister's house.

Let's start with a cutie little naturalist house.....

OH,
HOW I
DIG ON THOSE
RED
HOUSE NUMBERS!!!
Quirky,
yet not
over-the-top
for this historic neighborhood.

So many of these houses in this neighborhood have front porches and/or side porches.

Look at this cutie-patootie house!
And the little red bike in the grass.

I am not a mint green girl, but this was just way too sweet....you rarely see mint green anymore...

Also, it seems like everyone had their flag displayed.
We were visiting the last week of June.

I really love the neatly trimmed bushes out front.

And how sidewalks
wind
around houses to the back.

Within a minute or two of my walking adventure,

I came across this colorful fence line.

Now how cute and colorful is this???

The next house
was a classic white,

with contrasting black shutters and yet again...
a great front porch.

This is the front of that house.
I think it may have been converted into apartments.

I briskly walked up to the next house,
and noticed an easy, organic landscaping style....

And this was the home above the landscaped stonework!!
Of course I about plunked over, cause I loved this gray house with
crisp white trim and purple steps sooooo much!

The porch!
The front door!
The urns!

Those whimsical blue petunias.

The symmetry of it all!!

I saw this barn converted to garage,
and this flat roofed garage.

All I wanted to do was peek in those garage windows and then walk up that long driveway to that barn.

But I didn't.

The fretwork and detail are gorgeous
on these houses.

This next house might be a rental, there's several porches and the lawn wasn't as tidy as some. I loved it though!!!

This is the side of the same house.

Bet at one time,
this house was meticulous and a real stunner.

There were cute meandering sidewalks all around the yard.

In back of the property
was the back yard to a cute little brick house with a sweet patio, flag and a star.

Oh, be still my heart,
the next house was a gorgeous
cornflower blue.

The mass of lilies out front by the sidewalk will be super stunning when blooming.

This was just some pretty, simple ground cover I noticed while walking....

Yet another cutie-patootie house in the neighborhood...

I really liked the easy nature of this little flower garden...

...and the unassuming, relaxing porch.

This house and carriage barn has been sandblasted and looks close to getting a complete makeup and lipstick overhaul.

I like how they have a couple hanging plants on the porch, just to let folks know the house is not in ill repair, it's just getting primed for a paint job.

This is the side porch...this house is going to be a stunner when finished.

Now this next house, I totally dug on the symmetry of
the walkway. How cute are those shrubs!

This grand painted lady
stands proud...

The next house over from the painted lady had these pots just casually placed by a driveway.

And we have yet another cool gray and purple house....

Look at the glass work above the door!
I also love those planters and that pinwheel just casually stuck in the pot.

Can you see the basket with purple petunias hanging from the tree branch?

Even the smallest, most quaintest of houses in this neighborhood
have interesting features, like the exterior native stone and brick.

I like the contrast
bricks here.

The neatness and tidiness of the little charmer below is quaint too.

Just out of nowhere was a beautiful meadow-garden with Chantilly lace.

Okay, I just googled it, it's actually called QUEEN ANNE'S LACE!

Who's a dork?

*Angie raises hand*

Don't even get me started on how much I L-O-V-E-D this house!!!! LOVED!!!
What color doors do you think those are?

They're pink!!!!
How cute is that!!!!
Did you guess pink? Did you? Don't lie.

Ahhh, now moving along I came upon someone's
quirky stonework.
This seemed like an example of the homeowner telling the historic district people
to shove it, know what I mean?
It was kind of weird but actually very, very cool.

The urn on the stone wall below is sooooo quirky! It made me laugh.

Moving along.....

Because I am drawn to the imperfect gnarliness
of things,
I about CRAPPED MY PANTS WHEN I SAW THIS FENCE!!!
This be my kind of people.

You can tell the fence isn't priority for whoever lives here....

And you KNOW someone lives here, cause you can spy a big ol' house back there...very ethereal.

The flowers are well taken care of, no weeds. You almost begin to think the unpainted gnarliness of the fence is intentional.

RED ALERT! RED ALERT! Plunk!
Angie passes out when she sees this!!!! The owner of this fence line and house is trying to kill me from undying, never ending,
cuteness overload.
Look at this garden gate!!!!
It's like I found my own personal secret garden, ya know?

I peek in the gate and see a curved sidewalk.

I want to go in.

But I don't :(:(

*heavy sigh*

Instead,

I walk up to the corner and see this sweet little setting, still the same property.

And I turn the corner and see
*blink blink*......
ANOTHER OPEN GATE!!!! WITH A CUTE MEANDERING SIDEWALK UP TO ANOTHER PORCH
OF THE SAME HOUSE!!!!!!!

Okay. I know for sure that today is the day I will get arrested for creepy loitering or stalking or something if I don't get the heck out of here.
All I want to do is walk up that sidewalk.
That's all I want to do.
What is so wrong with that?? What????

But I don't.

Instead, I just run up real close to the porch,
as close as I can get while maintaining enough distance to run away fast,
and I quickly snap this back porch picture.
Look at that screen door!!!

And then I casually walk away across the street and take this picture of some steps.
Just in case police come, I would explain I'm just a tourist enjoying the bountifulness of this historic neighborhood.

Dear Little Children of America,

This is called an alley.

Kids used to play in alleys. They played fun games for hours and hours like kick-the-can. They rode their bikes and they played basketball and they threw rocks with their friends in this space.

They don't make alleys anymore, Children.

They make cul de sacs instead.

Yeah. I know.

Love, Angie.

Next up was this more stately home.
So simple. So commanding of your attention. So beautiful.

The more minimalist approach here definitely works for this home.

I about squealed when I saw this simple
stone duck.

Look at that door, too!

This must be a little breezeway or studio to the left.
And the stones were so organically set into the gentle slope out front.

After feeling like I overstayed my welcome at stately duckie home, I briskly walked over to the next property...

LOVE this American Gothic style window on this next house. L-O-V-E!!!
Notice how the blue inside trim color really showcases
the shape of the windows.

Once again, a double porch on this house, like so many other houses in this neighborhood.

Oh hello cute doggie,
who was on a walk as well!

Okay, now this house was for sale but I had to snap a shot of the alliteration of the enclosed porch with the upper deck.
Really nice.

These natural looking flowers were on the side of that house.

See the flag in the brick flower bed?

Flags and flowers make for festive weekends :)

I ran across the street and waited for a couple minutes by this sign.
But
no such luck....
no tractor and flatbed trailer with hay ever stopped by.

On my walk back to Kim and Steve's,
I noticed this on someone's property.....

I started to get excited...
oh my gosh...it's a fairy garden!!
Is it? Is it a fairy garden????

So I trespassed on private property to investigate
and get closer.....

.....and sure enough...

IT WAS A FAIRY GARDEN!!!

Can you see the little fairy bridge?
It sits over the blue stream, made from fish aquarium rocks.

Can you tell by this time, I was peeing my pants like no other??!!
Now where would you just casually run into a fairy garden,
just hanging out under some trees in somebody's yard?

Okay, I finally left my playmates,
the fairies (duh), and proceeded on.

This house has overgrown shrubbery

but,

wouldn't you just love to scale
those steps,

and peek inside that front door?

Just a little?

Little, little?

As I came back closer to our host's house, you see this interesting house that sits on a triangle corner lot.
The taupe fence is really different but it seems to really work with this maroon house.

And now I will show my all time favorite house on my morning walk.
Be still my heart and every other cliche you can think of!!!!
This is a side view to my all time favorite house...

Look how meticulous this property is!!!!!

And this is the front of the house....
NOW HOW CUTE IS THIS????
And that front porch!!!!!

Oh my gosh, can you even believe how simple,
yet gorgeous this porch is??!!
And once gain, the flags! So festive.

Okay, let's bring Angie's excitement level down a notch and show you the last house on my walk....
this grande old dame right up the street.

This old girl sits on a corner lot.

The carriage house/garage sits back on the lot.

And this is the driveway back to the carriage house.
This brick driveway makes me drool.
Immensely.
Like blubbering, blubbering, spit bubbles type of drool.

So from this gorgeous property, I walked right down the block and picked one of these up to-go...

Hellooooooooo normal black coffee with nothing crazy in it, or some crazy flavoring, or weird cream crap.

Nope. Hellloooooooo plain black coffee.

So that was my early
Saturday morning,
in a cute historic neighborhood,
in a cute historic town,
during a super fun Strawberry Festival,
that brings in 10,000 festive people.

Hope you enjoyed looking at these cutie house and flower pictures as much as I enjoyed
taking them!!!

Have a great weekend y'all!!!
And we'll talk at ya soon!!!

What My Super Cool, Hip, Young Grandma aka Angie Has Been Up To...A Guest Post By Little Boy Blue

1/20/2013

"OH Hi There!"

says the cutie, dimpled
Little Boy Blue.

"Come a little bit closer and I will tell you what my cool, hip, very young Grandma has been up to.
Oh by the way, my Grandma made me say "cool" and "young" and "hip." Hehehe."

so
at Christmastime,

my super young Grandma
pulled out this Christmas tree from the garage
and put it up for me and her to decorate together with kid ornaments....a warm, fuzzy Norman Rockwell experience she was thinking.

Well,

this is as far as we got.

I kept pulling the ornaments off the tree just as quick as Grandma put them on.

And then I got distracted with the kitties and with putting inappropriate stuff in my mouth.

So Grandma finally gave up.

So the kid tree never successfully got decorated.

But my Grandma did manage to get a big tree up with a few ornaments in the living room.

Grandma said she just wasn't into the decorating this year but that next year she will do better.

See, my Grandma loves her ornaments.

My Grandma used to put up
13 trees.

Her favorite tree was the 9 foot tree with vintage ornaments.

She has over a thousand vintage ornaments alone.

At least.

Grandma,
Are you a hoarder?

Gram was modest with layering on her vintage tree tops this year as well.

And all the pets were all snuggled in their beds for the Christmas season too.

And sometimes the pets even had turf wars with the humans for their rightful snuggy spot.

That's my Auntie Sweetness by the way. She was on break from school. I love her. She buys me fun books.

Auntie Sweetness is a literary arts grad student and she bought me this really cool book with animals in it for my birthday in October.

I LOVE this book!!!

The animals in this book have fake fur on them!!!

See my tongue here??

My Grandma and Grandpa had no idea that I was getting geared up to lick this book.

What???!!

So I like to lick the fur on the animals in that book.

Sue me!

My Grandpa sure got a kick out of it...he started yelling
"Angie, he's licking the book, look at this!"

I don't know what the big deal was.

I'm not licking the book Grandpa! I was just......smelling it. Duh.

See, I can look at a zebra without licking it....

...and I can touch a bear without sticking my tongue on it.

NO I CAN'T!!!

MUST LICK
MUST LICK
MUST LICK!!!!!

Anyway, moving on about the holiday season.....

My Grandma and Grandpa's new kitty Giblet Pearl did a lot of lazy sleeping this season too....in my Grandma's arms....

...In my Grandpa's shirt while he was on the phone....

yes, you read that right, I said IN my Grandpa's shirt.

....and with her
big brother
Vinny on the couch.

My Grandma is happy Giblet Pearl finally wore down moody big brother Vinny with love and licks and jumping on Vinny's head and playing with Vinny's tail and constantly bugging Vinny...

Vinny finally just found it easier to give in to the little love bucket and humor her.

Speaking of humoring....
I humored my not old looking at all, cool, young, hip Grandma and Grandpa on
Christmas Day.

All they want to do is love and hug on me.

Geez, a kid's gotta have some room sometime to breathe
ya know.

So I jumped over to my Auntie Sweetness and her nice boyfriend NiceBoyfriend's lap.

By the way, my Grandma wants me to let you know that Auntie Sweetness may look twelve but she is actually of legal drinking age and it is legal for her to have that glass of wine.

And then it was time to open presents and because I was at my Daddy's family the night before with tons of cousins and tons of attention and tons of presents and activity and stimulation, I was a little wired and tired and ornery and
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
WWWHHHAAAAAAAA
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
WWWHHHAAAAAAAAA

Do I look like I've been a 24 hour handful here for my Momma and Daddy??!!!
Hehehehehehe
WHAAAAAAAAAA!!!

And then
I crashed and burned on my Grampy's lap who was winding down as well.

Where's my blankie??!!

Well I better get going, I'm a busy toddler boy you know. My Grandma wants you to know she's been cooking a lot of disasters like this though lately...

She can't even remember what this was but it was expensive to make and it was too sweet and are you wondering where the top of the bundt cake is?

Apparently it didn't want to leave the coziness of the pan.

But at least this super easy chicken cordon bleu turned out pretty decent.

She'll be sharing that with you soon cuz she really liked it.

Okay now I'm really out of here....I got things to do like looking cute and hanging out in laundry baskets.

Thanks for checking in and catching up on my youngish, energetic, hip Grandma. She'll be talking at ya soon and if you're a super cute and adorable yittle tiny baby or toddler, she'll be showering you with a ton of kisses and hugs!

See ya later alligator!
Have a good week and remember: always give little boys everything they ask for no matter how outrageous, okay? Goo Goo
Gah Gah. Thanks a lot!

Our Most Favoritist First Birthday Ever, Scanty Fallish Decorating, And A Quick Trip To Amana

10/25/2012

Last weekend was such a fun time!!
We celebrated Little Boy Blue's FIRST BIRTHDAY!!!

And all the newly minted 1-year-old wanted to do was climb the mountain of presents to get to that colorful twirly gig decoration thing! With his laser-like focus, he succeeded by the way :)

In other weekend news,

I sparsely
fall-decorated
the dining room.

I put together a quick
Halloween
table centerpiece....

This is a real Gerbera daisy.

I paid $10 for it but the florist said it would bloom for three more weeks....

Look at those cute votive holders!

I think I can use a couple of them at Christmas time too.

WHO?????

WHO????

WHO are you looking at???

Okay,
now see these INNOCENT turkey salt and pepper shakers?

They don't hurt a soul! Gobble, gobble.

But Vinny has decided they are enemies and must be hunted and destroyed
every ding.dang.day!

I CAN'T KEEP ANYTHING NICE AROUND HERE!!!

Did ya notice this handmade Halloween booklet on the table?

This is the front cover of this fun, quirky booklet....

This is the back cover.....

You open up the booklet and each page is a campy, quirky Halloween themed page.

And
this is the last page.

Well, I changed up the display on the vintage Record Player/Radio/Short Wave Radio console too...

A closer look at this season's tabletop display....

This is my collection of vintage drink stirrers back there.....

And a few wine stoppers given to me as gifts....

When I got out of the antique business 5 years ago, I made certain to keep this funky barware.

These stirrers are so fun to pick up and check out...

A lot of these are from the 60's Vegas casinos and hotels.

And this shaker is just too cute.

Course the top is missing.

The top is ALWAYS MISSING off these vintage shakers!

And I can't help it but I do love this vintage aperitif glass...silver and black with that art deco stem.
LOVE!!!

Oh by the way, remember Vinny The Turkey Hunter?

He also likes to destroy expensive wrap paper on the dining room table.

"You want me to do WHAT? Get off this wrap paper? No way Jose."

"Here,
if I act cute, will you leave
me
the heck
alone?"

Finally I was able to wrap the baby's present! This is the front side...

...and this is the meticulously wrapped back side.

I think I should have ironed that wrap paper before using it.

Oh! Putting this vase away for the season, but isn't it soooo pretty? I am mesmerized by bright, shiny, colorful things.

Seriously, all people ever had to do over the years was give me a marble for birthdays and Christmas and I would have been satisfied.

Shhhhh, we won't tell them that though. All Laura Ingalls Wilder wanted was a stick of sugar too.

So anyway, on Sunday Tim and I jaunted over to the Amanas to visit the shops, it was such a beautiful weather day!

Hello
My Main Man,

Stud Muffin,

Hard Worker,

Money Maker,

Person Who Will Eat My Unfortunate Cooking Mistakes,

Person Who No Matter How Much He Eats Never Puts On A Pound And That Is Sooooo Not Fair,

Dad Who Is Never Allowed To Say "Bratwurst" Again Like Chris Farley Per His Kid's Orders,

Good Looking, Studly Grandpa Of The Coolest Little Boy Ever.

We only went to three or four places.

Look at that blue sky, will ya!

Tim likes this shop because they have lots of manly man antiques, you know, boring stuff like toys, signs, and sports memorabilia.

I'm KIDDING!! It's not boring

if you're a dude.

Actually I know the owner and he's so nice and his stuff is super nice, TOP QUALITY! His stuff is rare and hard to find and it goes for top dollar because of that rarity and condition.

I do loves me this collection of animal milk glass plates though :)

Now how many times have Tim and I walked or drove past this house and did not realize it was full of antiques..an antique shop!

The answer is A LOT!

They need better signage.

Now, if you get out of the car and walk up, you see this.

Looks like a house and that antique sign on the left is hidden by tree branches by the way.

Cute display by the unassuming front door.

Heck, we didn't know what to expect...we didn't even know if we were going in the right door.

Yup, we were in the right place!
This is the beautiful, primitive side....

And this was more within Angie's budget....

You know how I loves me creaky old stairs in antique shops and figuring out where they lead...

BOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ANGIE LIKEY!!!!

Of course I loved this place!!

It was two houses and two stories put together!

Oh my gosh, I thought long and hard about several of these pieces, but one can only have so much crap in their house.

And I STILL have a lot of crapola in my house.

But I wanted those textured planters on the bottom right. The green, yellow, red and aqua ones. That's all.

But then
I
became

distracted

by this other

stairwell full

of old jugs

and crocks

and bowls.

Okay, last boring antique picture, I promise...

And it's not even that exciting but I did pick this black and white deco-looking bread box up in Stillwater, Mn a few weeks ago.

Don't know how I'll use it,
I just know black and white is hard to find in bread boxes.
This looks more stylish than most vintage bread boxes.

Okay, true to my word, no more boring antique pictures!!!!

Gotta get back to work now anyway.
Imagine that...I've been blogging when I should be working!! Okay now I'm really going!

Stay warm for those who are in the areas with the cold front coming in...have a good Thursday night and we'll talk to ya soon!

Good Times and Silly Pictures at the Stillwater Art and Jazz Festival

10/13/2012

We went to an
Art and Jazz Festival
in Stillwater, MN last weekend.

Look!
Cute doggie at festival!

Cute
LITTLE
doggies too!

Tim and I visited Stillwater, Mn for the first time back in May of this year. You can read it about it HERE. This time we wanted to be right on the riverfront.

Location. Location. Location!

We stayed at the
Waterstreet Inn,
which is that brick building there on the right.
The festival was just outside the back door of the Inn, on the banks of the St. Croix River.
Location, location, location.

Because of location, we paid a bit of cash (kaching) ouch for this super loverly Victorian room.

Uh, yeah. Purty. Ain't it?

When choosing location, one can't always be picky but one will usually pay three times more than what they should.

This is where we took our brandy in the evenings.

I have no idea what that means, I just thought it sounded Victorian stuffy.

The bathroom is in an
OLD BANK VAULT though,
that was kind of cool.

Oh hello Tim!
Find any money in there?
Crap, didn't think so.

In all seriousness, this Inn is overpriced, but we would stay here again because of location....walking distance to EVERYTHING, tons of cute shops, top rated restaurants, coffee shops, lots of used bookstores and antique shops. And it WAS clean.
Just, uh, a bit outdated.

We hung out and listened to some good live music throughout the weekend at the festival.

We also saw some pretty cool art.

I wanted to buy this buffalo but it was 20,000 dollars.

So I didn't buy it.

There was urban art...

Beautiful contemporary
glass art....

I picked these colored glass magnets up at the booth above. Shiny. Pretty. Angie can't resistie.

There was cool, mid-century modern wood art...

Lots of photo art booths....

More metal art...
I wanted these fish!

But they were $1900.

Each.

So I didn't get them either.

However I peeked in their booth....

....and I looked a little closer and spied some cool stuff that wasn't $1900.

So I bought one.

What is it you ask?

It's a wine bottle holder.

See,

it holds wine bottles...even empty ones like most of these are.

How cute and practical is this!!!

And the metal was finished with an automotive clear coat!!
That's why it's so shiny.

All this obsession with bright shiny things reminds me of this cute,
well,
I think it's a bracelet.

But I'm using it as a wine bottle decoration.

Boo.

Anyway, back to the festival weekend,

fortunately there were food trucks too....

we were starving after having eaten breakfast a few hours earlier.

Wok on wheels...that name kills me.

Sweet and sour chicken and chicken on a stick wasn't too bad though.

Later on, we checked out some shops downtown before it got too late...

We saw this store with fun yellow confetti looking stuff on the windows and thought we would venture in.

Oh, who loved this shop from the get go???
This was the entry.

The next thing you notice is this cool Halloween display.

And then you look up and see THIS IS A
BIG
SHINY
BRIGHT
STORE!

And they offer soda and coffee and tea and wine.

And cupcakes!!!

Everybody is happy in this store.

Grumpy people not allowed apparently.

Maybe everyone's so happy cuz there's candy in this store.

Everywhere.

Bright, shiny candy!!!

After a bit of bright, shiny
overload,

we stepped out into another shop nearby called Cherry Berry.

Whoa!! Bright, shiny overload in here too!

But I LOVED IT!!

We decided to tone things down a bit and hit a couple different antiques hops.

I don't know what shop this was,

I just loved the entry.

The antique shop nearby was cool though.

Care for a couple of yellow figurines for a hundred something dollars?

No, me neither.

I did like this chandelier though.

And how about this motor oil can?

Love it.

Obviously I really like this cupboard.

I did buy these four champagne flutes for cheap there.

Not vintage, but heavy and etched and
art deco-ish.

I have no idea why I bought this Kerr canning jar.
But it spoke to me.
It said in a sneaky whispered voice, "Pssst. Angie. Yeah, you. Buy me."

Holla if you remember these Halloween treat bags!!!

Maybe I'll fill this $1 tin with candy canes this Christmas.
Or nuts.
Or love.
Or change from the bottom of my purse.

Tim picked up the coolest stuff from this antique shop....a full line of vintage Evel Knievel things.
Including the sky cycle!!!

Evel lived a VERY interesting life.
Ima do a blog post on him soon I think.

Man, I love this small picture.
It's the top to a vintage calender. But I LOVE that aqua frame.
LOVE!

Well, after a fun day of doing fun stuff, we went to a fun place and ate fun things but I will spare you food pictures this time. I'm certain ya'll are about ready to doze off from all these totally thrilling pictures...

....such as this heart stopping picture of a coffee shop we visited the next morning...

But it was very cute and lively....

And it had the
Best
Chair Ever!

Love it!

Before we left town,

we spur-of-the moment stopped at this Isaac Staples Mill.

We didn't know what it was.

We saw this non-descript sign and door that said "Antiques" and "Open" so we walked in.

And the heavens opened up and the angels started singing....

There were stairs and floors and booths and lots and lots of antiques!

After meandering through the first floor, we took these stairs to the second floor.

And then we took this ramp to the 3rd floor....

...where this barber chair greeted visitors...
come to think of it, maybe this is a shoe shine chair? Hmmm, anybody know?

...and more stuff.

The original wood floors were awesome.

Creak
Creak
Creak

The whole time. Creak.

There were landings....

...and stairs that went down to them.

See this bike on the wall?

Does it
or does it not

look like the bicycle from the Wizard of Oz?

Huh. Am I right?

Huh, huh?Am I right?

Personally,
I prefer this biercycle from the festival.

Much less scarier.

Quite honestly, after seeing the Wizard of Oz bicycle, we figured it was time to head on out, back to Frytown.
We didn't have any bicycles to fly, so we just drove back in our car :)

Okay, thanks for humoring me by reading this guys!!!!
Hope everyone's had a good weekend!
Have a great rest of the weekend and we'll talk to ya soon!!!

A Weekend With The Avett Brothers And Tom Sawyer

10/2/2012

This is the Meriwether Mansion
in the heart of the
St. Louis
Arts District.

This mansion is an Inn now.

Tim and I stayed here Saturday night
and walked not quite one block to see The Avett Brothers in concert at The Fox Theatre.
Location, location, location!!

This mansion was built in 1884 by Elizabeth Avery and Minor Meriwether of Tennessee.
Minor was a descendent of Meriwether Lewis of Lewis and Clark.

Many other similar mansions/townhouses were built in this neighborhood by wealthy people in the 1880's in what was THE MOST FASHIONABLE DISTRICT of St. Louis at the time... Midtown.

Midtown was fashionable because it was farther away than the "inner city" of St. Louis and was much more peaceful and bucolic.

You climb these stairs when entering the Grand Center Inn.

By 1900,
many of these mansions and townhouses turned into commercial office spaces, almost like a mini downtown, due to the increase of streetcar lines.

And because of THAT....gasp!!....streetcars and an increase in people...
the wealthy then moved out
and moved west.

And then most of these mansions and townhouses turned into apartments during the depression years.

And they stayed that way.

And eventually, by the 1970's, all these beautiful mansions in this once peaceful and bucolic neighborhood were taken over by pimps and drug dealers.

The Meriwether is on the left. On the right is another mansion, converted into "Grandel Square Hotel". Both mansions had been overtaken by drug dealers and pimps and had families with babies living in squalor with dirty mattresses and no heat. In the early 70's there was a fire in the right hand building and it was demolished.

Which left the Meriwether mansion all by itself.

usgennet.org

ecoabsence.com

Some folks out of Houston, Tx, purchased the building in 2005.....
.....and began renovating.
See the stairs on the right? Those were the stairs to the mansion that burned down.

The Meriwether Mansion became a stand alone building in this once bucolic area.

Today,
the mansion is quite lovely again.

It is operating as an Inn.

Not a bed and breakfast,
but an "Inn".

There is a difference.

This is the greeting room inside the Inn.

A bit austere.

Two nice European gentlemen run this Inn and it has everything you need but is definitely scaled down.

....not "opulent" like it was before.

Oops, they forgot to put clothes on the lady in the entry.

That chandelier is gorgeous though.

Simple Inn-like dining room.

The rooms are simply decorated...although I will say we had the least expensive room...there were suites that were twice as much as ours.

Again,
at his Inn, you are paying for
location, location, location...

one block from 12 galleries and museums, Broadway musicals, jazz clubs, cabaret shows, symphonies and film festivals.

This Inn is only one of two places providing lodging in Grand Center,
the formal name of the
Art District.

Yup.

European.

So after we checked out our digs,
we walked the one minute up to the Arts District and they were a TON of people milling around....

And kid performers on stages....

This kid was dancing...the crowd was loving it.

And other adorable, talented kids on another stage.

Man the music was AWESOME!

Ya can't miss the Fox Theatre building....

We had to quick jump into the box office to pick up our tickets...

See The Avett Brothers up there on the side there?

Yup, that's who we were seeing that evening.

But we needed to grab a bite to eat....
and Dooleys Beef and Brew House fit the bill.

And of course I maintained my trim waistline by ordering this meal.

And beverage.

By now, it was getting dark and we ran back to the Inn to clean up....

we noticed this as we ran back...

I don't think the movie theater is operational yet, but the sign sure was pretty.

And about a half block in back of the Inn,

there was a movie playing on the side of a building.

These are the lights in the side yard of the Inn you stood under to watch the movie.

So we cleaned up real quick.
You know me... I put on a pretty dress, high heels, lots of makeup and curled up my hair real nice.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

What?

It could happen.

Anyway, we walked back to the district and right outside the Fox Theatre was this....

Yes, there was more food,

but I meant THIS...THIS was outside the Fox Theatre.....

A really good, energetic, young band....

And back behind them was this building lit up with super cool lights.

Note to self...

Dear Angie,

Next time in St. Louis, go to this Jazz Club.

As ever,
Angie

More performers outside
The Fox.

This young man had a crowd gathered around him.

We finally worked our way into the theatre where The Avett Brothers were going to be playing in a few minutes.

And by the way, the theatre is breathtaking.
Breathtaking.

Angie wanted to grab a glass of wine in the lobby.

But there were many people.

Fortunately they were nice people and Angie got worked up to the line real quickly due to some nice gentlemen and the fact that she is 5'2". Hehehehehe.

The ceiling of the lobby.

We had excellent seats.

I tried to take pictures of the architecture.

This isn't my picture,

this is someone else's.

THIS
is my picture.

I suck.

And the band came out and rocked da howze!!!!

Even when it was just the two brothers singing acoustically,

So nice.

The next day we got up, ate some Inn breakfast
(Inn food..bacon, potatoes and peppers, eggs...not three and five course breakfasts we're used to at B&B's) and took off back north to home.
By the way, I sound like such a well-traveled, hoity, rich person when I say that about B&B's; when in fact, I don't fly, I've never been accused of being hoity and I am the furthest from rich one can be. I po. I sell cars out of a former
chicken coop. Beat THAT :):):)

We did take several hours and stopped into Hannibal to check out what's going on.

Can I just say

I
LOVE
THIS
TOWN!

IT'S AWESOME!

How adorable are these two just a' strollin' down the street?!!

Lots of cute little shops line the streets....

And
of course Stud Muffin and I hit our fair share of antique shops.

Shadow, an 11 year old black lab,
greeted us at one of the shops. I loved Shadow!
She was so sweet!!!!

The streets are exactly as you would think of as the birthplace of
Mark Twain.

My Ma would love this fabric and quilt shop!

And my mother-in-law will love this shop of which I took the following pictures.....
Tim's mom and dad will be visiting Hannibal in a couple weeks.

Care to sit for a spell with these folks?

This shop is full of mannequins,

but also dishes, furniture, books and other antique treasures.

This is the door that leads to the upstairs.

Once again,
Tim was creeped out by the upstairs of an antique shop...

I DON'T know why.

Do YOU???

I myself,
LOVED this store,

but I have to admit,
the upstairs definitely had a, uh,......vibe to it.

But see,

there were also vintage lamps and cool fun stuff to experience too.

Well, I guess Tim DID have a point.

So eventually I high tailed it out of there too.

One of our last stops was this antique shop. It's been here for 44 years. The proprietor is 93 years old and has owned it the whole time.

She gets up and goes to work here EVERY SINGLE DAY, seven days a week.

She was awesome!
And so pretty too!
Reminded me of Tim's Grandmother.

I don't believe there's been much updating for 44 years too,

and that's what makes this shop so interesting.

The day was winding down and we needed to get home....

...so we stopped in this coffee shop for a quick coffee to go...

The back half of the coffee shop is for
sittin' and enjoyin'
with all those beautiful colors and artwork.

Finally, we heaved ourselves begrudgingly into the car and headed back north
to Frytown, Ia USA :):)

It was a fun, quick weekend and I'd do it again in a minute!!!

Okay, now I gotta quit playing on the computer and get back to work...selling an Impala shortly...

See ya next time!!!

Talk at ya soon!!!!

I Feel Like A Rich But Lazy Person With A Monday Off

9/4/2012

Man, two days off in a row??!!
Sunday and Labor Day Monday!!!!!!!!
I feel like a SUPER R-I-C-H person!
Super rich but super lazy too.
Ima not lose any sleep over that last one though :)

So what did I do on my two days off you ask??

Well,

I took those
2/$1
bell peppers and threw them on a baking sheet.

And I roasted them until they became charred.

Then I put them in a bowl and covered them with plastic wrap for 15 minutes.

Then I unwrapped the peppers and peeled them and de-seeded them.

I then put two each in freezer bags and dated and marked them and threw them in the freezer.
These will go into dishes that require roasted red peppers this winter and it will save me a ton of time I could be using to peruse magazines or researching recipes or trying out new lipsticks.

Okay, that lipstick thing was a lie...do you even KNOW me??!!

Okay, we did other things besides
roasting red peppers....

We rented Midnight in Paris....both our girls love this movie so I thought I better check it out.

We LOVED it!

Delightful
is what it is.

And there's a French flea market scene in the movie...
that's Owen Wilson and Rachel McAdams talking over there and the other woman is the dealer lady.

So of course on Monday, Labor Day, Stud Muffin and I visited the
Uptown Bill's Labor Day Flea Market
in Iowa City.

This particular yearly flea market is very small but quirky.

Had the usual suspects like vintage pottery.

And some cool toys.
This was a boxed Midget set, vintage c.1960.

For $125.

Yup.

$125.

And this particular dealer was selling this very, very cool bench for $465.

Yup.

$465.

It was gorgeous though for sure.
Very unique and artistic!

Plenty of single chairs to get your groove on.

Including these two cuties.

Need a picture?

Plenty here!

Unfortunately these were all old lady looking prints and no mid century modern pictures.

Now we're talking
vintage contemporary!

Now THIS dude had some interesting pottery pieces....

But his red Haeger rooster was $145.

Really?

Now I used to be an antiques dealer and you know,
none of us ever made a killing on anything.
But $145 for a Haeger rooster?
ESPECIALLY when I wanted it real bad.
Boo. Is what I gotta say to that.

There were fun children's vintage games and toys...

And there was vintage Christmas and I did not buy one dang Christmas thing. Not one thing. I wanted to. Especially that cute beaded Santa over on the right there. But I didn't.

Hey, these two lamps creeped me out.

The light bulb goes on top like normal.

But then another small bulb goes in those white eyes or flower looking things on the front there.
*scratching my head*

I wanted this,
I wanted it,
I wanted it!!

Whaaa!!!!!

I should have bought it!

Leave me alone, I'm in a depression now.
sniff.

I'm still depressed but I'll finish up this
here post.

Bicycles.

Cheap canister set of my fave colors.

Some of these colors are in that #$#$*&^@ footstool I should have bought.

Anyone have a snot rag I can borrow?

Anyone need three scary doll heads?

Okay, now THIS is making me smile again and am forgetting about that awesome plaid footstool.

BOO!!!!!

\

Hehehehehehe :):):)

Love it!

Linda Blair called and wants her heads back.

Okay, so what DID I buy then you ask,
huh?

Well, I bought this gorgeous abstract oil painting.

For TWO DOLLARS!!!!!

I kind of likey it on my dining room wall!
I'm gonna leave that $2 price tag on there forever.

Oh yeah, Tim broke the bank and bought a $2 Flip Car from 1989.

We had to fight for it but he IS stronger than me so I gave up real quick.

So after sweating like pigs at the flea market, we grabbed ourselves some lunch and then wandered back home...

...and to my chagrin, the laundry still looked the same as when we left.

Hey though, YO!!! I got a new washer!!!
Cause I am RICH!!!!!

Actually our washer broke Friday morning.

Q: How did I know it broke?

A: Cuz there was 2 inches of water in the laundry room.
At 4am in the morning.

So I call up the local Appliance Barn at 8am and say I want the absolute cheapest washer with the least amount of technology and knobs they have, delivered today.
Nice lady said it would be $530.
I fell on the floor.
Then I picked myself up and said two years ago I bought a dryer from you for $250. She laughed and said washers are more expensive than dryers.

I'm still gonna need therapy for this by the way. $530 PLUS a delivery fee.
Now I KNOW washers and dryers are typically way more expensive than that but I am cheap people, C-H-E-A-P!

Anyway,

it was still mid-afternoon on Monday and I thought I would go out and start packing the barn up.

Beings that it was hit by a tornado and all and needs to come down.

Double sigh.

I peeked back in the narrow middle room

(formerly held cattle and horse grain back in the day)

and sighed.

The wind was strong that day.

Then I saw this green hula hoop and it made me smile.

:):):)

And these two little impish vintage Tappan salt and peppers made me smile too when I opened up a door to the Hoosier cabinet.

Then I figured I better stop taking boring pictures of crap in my barn and get inside cuz my allergies were FLARING big time!!! BIG TIME!

Plus after all,
it was Day Two of the loooong weekend and I wanted to make sure I partook of the "lazy" part of having
Sunday and Monday off.
Sunday AND Monday!
Still giggling at that!!!!
Back to reality on Tuesday but it was a nice dream the last 48 hours!!

Hey, have a good Tuesday
and we'll talk at ya soon!!!!!

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